Category Archives: tango

Dance is currently enjoying an explosion in popularity. Every country of the world loves dancing with hundreds of different traditional styles to choose from. Around 10 percent of the population now dance as a regular exercise activity or by taking part in community classes. TV dance shows in every country have helped to boost the popularity of dancing for health and fitness dance classes have taken gyms by storm. From ballet to belly dancing, dance clubs are reporting a huge rise in interest and there has never been a better opportunity to experience this art form.

Rise of social networking

Social networks, like Facebook and Linkedin, now allow you to connect to other people with ease. These networks usually consist of a profile, the ability to create groups and many different ways to interact with other people. There are also bookmarking sites , social news, media sharing and micro blogging opportunities. Blog sites and forums are also extremely popular, as they allow members to express their opinions and have conversations by posting messages. Although these are different types of social media, they can often overlap and offer a combination of services. If you want to learn more about emerging technologies and how to get the most from them then visit Argenclic.com.ar.

Connect or dance together

The rise of social media means that you can now connect with like-minded people, who love dancing, from all around the world. From contemporary dance to hip-hop, you can find local groups and dance clubs to stay ahead of the news. You can book tickets, learn to dance any dance, find partners or keep track of competitions. Many popular social networking groups now have a worldwide membership. If you have a passion for salsa, ballet or jive, you can find people with the same love and share your experiences. There is no better time to get involved, so kick off your shoes and get dancing!

As mentioned on another page, Julio De Caro started a new era in the composition of tango, embellishing melodies through harmonized piano accompaniment, phrasing and various variations of the bandoneon, refined violin arrangements as well as piano and bandoneon solos.

Some of the most recognized songs of that time were Yira Yira, Cambalache, Confessions, Malena, Barrio de Tango, Che bandoneon, Sadness Corrientes, Naranjo en Flor, etc. During the period between 1950 and 1970, tango lost its hegemony and other newer foreign danceable rhythms like the conga, rumba, rock and roll and mambo made tango lose ground, although it was never forgotten, given that even today there are thousands if not millions of people who still practice tango in milongas organized around the world.

In the 1980s, there was a wave of new tango, which was greatly influenced by maestro Astor Piazzolla. The polemic rivalry between tango and classical musicians has always been a part of the struggle that tango fans and musicians had to endure. Snobby academics stated that tango was not sophisticated enough to be taken seriously, despite the profound change that it had undergone from being played in the streets by semi amateur musicians to being performed by well-respected professionals with a solid musical education and background.

The main reason that the upper classes or snobbish people considered tango as belonging to an inferior music category is that it sprang from “common people” and was played for “common people”. In any case, there came yet a new wave of tango music, not so long ago, which is popularly known as electronic tango. Electronic tango is nowadays very popular all over the world. Perhaps the very first band that experimented with electronic tango was Ultratango, formed in Buenos Aires by the Satragno brothers (pioneers in the electronic music scene of the region in the 80s).

Other key elements in tango lyrics were settings such as the “whorehouse”, la “Timba” (gambling games that usually ended in bloody fights), etc. The daily life and routines of common people were reflected through these lyrics. Tango took a leading role in popular culture, being distributed on radio and in numerous films, both locally and internationally. In the 1930s, profound social changes occurred in Argentina, when large numbers of people migrated from rural to urban areas.

This brought about an economic depression and unemployment. The tango was not exempt from this crisis; the mass popularization mentioned above led to the introduction of foreign rhythms to increase sales and respond to international demands. Enrique Santos Discepolo emerged as a sardonic, desperate and grotesque poetic figure and his lyrics reflected the social situation at the time in songs like Yira Yira, Cambalache, Confession, etc.

The generation of the 40s decade is generally regarded as tango’s golden age. After the death of Carlos Gardel, tango music was massively being distributed both nationwide as well as globally, and had already achieved status as its very own musical genre, being widely accepted and recognized by all social classes. Tango reached its maximum height of success with brilliant and dedicated artists like Carlos Gardel, Pugliese, Rivero, Gobbi, Troilo, Canaro, Contursi, Manzi, Expósito, amongst others.

During this decade, people in Argentina danced tango more than ever and many schools of tango were opened and established. Also, tango and poetry experts say that the 40s was the decade when the greatest lyricists and urban poets that tango had ever witnessed published their work. Some of these lyrics explored themes like love, philosophy and societal conflicts, etc. Julio De Caro, a renowned composer and orchestra conductor is said to have started a new era in the composition of tango music.

As mentioned before, “La Morocha” was one of the first tango songs to be recorded and the first one to be exported to Europe. The lyrics are rogue and the music is playful and lively. In 1910, tango was danced in Paris, rapidly expanding its popularity around the world. Its glamor conquered the highest sectors of society and was danced in almost all European capitals. Those responsible for presenting tango abroad, in the music halls of the old continent were the young sons of the traditional, wealthy families, who had long frequented places in Buenos Aires where tango was danced, even under the scorn of Buenos Aires’s high society, which still looked down on tango’s scandalous history and roots.

During the 30’s and after tango’s global growth, a period of refinement began, both poetic and musical, where importance was given to the musical arrangements, with a much firmer beat and greater musical quality. Soloists emerged, with solid musical background, like singer Carlos Gardel, one of the greatest tango representatives in the whole world, even to the date.

The 30s decade for tango was a revivalist period; tango went from trios or quartets to well-articulated, and numerous orchestras which generally had an orchestra conductor who took decisions. During this decade, being a tango musician finally began to be a paid job. The lyrics were also transformed, slightly ceasing to be vulgar and with less mentions or references to social issues.

There appeared new themes and topics, generally related to certain sentimental nuance; for example, it was commonplace to find lyrics related to men (generally or historically having been represented as strong and insensitive) weeping over lost love. New characters appeared in tango lyrics during this decade, such as the folks (“la vieja, el viejo”), the girlfriend, the madam who worked at the brothel, prostitutes etc.

Between 1906 and 1920, tango started moving from the margins of society to the center; this stage is known as “The old guard”. Tango started being recognized outside Buenos Aires, especially in Paris. Of course, this acceptance meant a vindication in the southern countries, and as a result got more and more people interested in this music.

Tango was now accepted by the mainstream music market and moved from the outskirts of the scene to the center. Many dance halls and clubs (milongas) opened, where men and women could gather and dance. These were also spaces for socialization amongst the different social classes. Finally, the working people and the rich people had found something that united them and a lot of unexpected romances and affairs took place.

Live music was played almost every night and this fact led to the professionalization of tango and, of course, the establishment of orchestras that begun to record music and sell them in Argentina, Uruguay and Europe. Orchestras included bandoneon, violin, piano and double bass. New composers appeared, with a more professional approach and more refined technical skills; they were now recognized by theatres and started touring to play all over the world.

Around this time, writers began to sing their songs, and even the spirit of the music evolved, showing more cheerful and lively feelings, and even the melodies were brighter, leaving behind at some point the melancholic spirit of the tango. A clear example of this is the song “La morocha”, a famous tango composed in 1905 by Argentine musician Angel Villoldo and Uruguayan musician Enrique Saborido, recorded in 1906 by Alfredo and Flora Gobbi.

The “compadrito” took his guitar everywhere and composed songs in “pulperias”, places where people gathered to drink alcohol which generally were the scenario of brutal fights. The “compadrito” was a petty man, who lived with prostitutes, exerting all kinds of crimes, always having trouble with the police and usually without any money. His only power was his physical strength and he was often involved in fights and trouble all around.

As we see, the atmosphere surrounding tango music was marginal and dirty, full of characters that lived outside the law. Condemned by the church and banned by police for inciting scandal and disturbances, tango was associated with lust, “unholy” fun, alcohol and dancing. It was looked upon as “vulgar” by the more conservative social strata, socially marginalized for seeking sensuality and pleasure. This led to tango being forbidden and persecuted; the prohibition forced people to dance in hidden places and that also goes to show why tango is still considered today to have such a mystical, passionate aura about it.

Amongst the popular songs of the golden age of tango that you can find are: “Tango de la casera”, “Andate a la recoleta”, “Dame la lata”, “Don Juan, el taita del barrio” and “El porteñito”. Tango’s origins were near the shores, in poorer areas near the ports, and the main characters were the people who lived in these neighborhoods. As often happens in history, authentic art movements start amongst the working, marginal classes, with people who find a way to escape their ordinary lives that use their imagination in order to create new environments.

The feelings of these people are the ones that have historically created new artistic waves. As we know, the bourgeois or upper classes have systematically denied and put down these strong artistic manifestations, even if they later on ended becoming interested in them.

One of the topics that tango lyrics deal with might be humor in relation to everyday life and political and social issues. Love, deception and heartbreak are also recurring themes in tango lyrics. Other themes includes unsatisfied sexual desire, reflecting the sensuality always present in tango, sadness and melancholy which reflect a permanent state of frustration, which is often related to the feeling of rootlessness experienced by the immigrants that were so far away from their homelands.

Enrique Santos Discepolo, one of the greatest poets of tango defined it as “sad thoughts or emotions represented by dancing”. In 2009, tango was included in the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) of humanity by UNESCO. The “arrabal”, considered the “primitive form of tango” grew popular in shanty towns on the outskirts of the city, also in bars or in houses were people who would dance for fun and in brothels or in ”pringundines” (places where tango dance was learned). In these places, known “arrabales”, the tango was distributed through “organelles” which resounded in every corner.

Dock workers, sailors, laborers, builders and other people from different groups of the working class were the ones who experienced tango from musicians first hand. There were also typical characters amongst them, like prostitutes, bad guys from lower social classes and felons, which were referred to as “taitas” and “compadritos”.

The “taita” was one of the characters that coexisted during the origins of tango music; this kind of young man was rootless, a misfit who came to the city from the countryside. He had no friends or family in the city so he was always alone; he was a virile grown up boy who committed petty crimes here and there, always carrying his knife to defend himself, since he used to have love affairs with married women.

Tango is influenced by four different music styles: African, Cuban habanera candombe, the Andalusian tango and milonga. The mixture of these four genres resulted in the creation of tango, which was played, sang and danced mainly in marginal places, such as at cafés and brothels, and many times, even in the streets.

The first tango musicians did not write their compositions on music sheets, as they were not professional and ignored the rules and theoretical aspects of music. In fact, usually they learned to play instruments on the street or at home, sometimes taught by family members or friends. Therefore, the first tango songs were unsophisticated, without a defined structure, and usually without lyrics.

Musical groups were trios composed by flute, guitar and violin. Afterwards, other instruments were added progressively, such as the bandoneon (an instrument of German origin similar to accordion), the mandolin and the harmonica, which replaced the use of flutes. During this embryonic time, tango was a marginal and street music style, despised by the upper classes of the cities, which were in a stage of rapid growth.

Tango’s choreography, designed from the embrace of two dancers (traditionally a man and a woman), is extremely sensual and complex; it goes deep into the way men and women were used to behave in life during those times, being the man, the one who leads and the woman who follows his command.

Tango lyrics are made based on a local dialect (slang) called lunfardo, and they often express sadness, especially in matters related to love, as well as the feelings of men and women from the working class. In this sense, it might be akin to blues music. However, this is not all that tango lyrics are about, as they also refer to other themes and other stories and topics.

Many people during these massive waves of immigration had to adapt from a relaxed lifestyle in the countryside to a stressful, overcrowded, oppressive lifestyle of the big cities, where there were not many cheerful and recreational spaces. Physical and intellectual effort was required every moment; families had been torn apart and loneliness was everywhere.

This scenario was quite different to what they expected when leaving their homelands looking for peace and tranquility and the “American Dream”. It was perhaps difficult to imagine for these simple people from rural areas of several European countries, including Italy, Spain, Poland, Portugal, and also from distant and very different regions like the Middle East, Russia or Japan.

From these feelings related to being homesick and longing back, tango drew a lot inspiration. The music is very melancholic and melodious and has filled the hearts of the millions of exiles, and helped them deal with the miseries that this new and poor life in the city had brought about.

The unusual fusion of languages, cultures and customs generated the phenomenon of tango and, at the same time, a particular language or dialect was born known as “lunfardo” (it is a lingo characteristic to the Region of Rio de la Plata). This way of speaking was taken up by some Italian dialects and other languages brought by immigrants, which were absorbed and adapted to Buenos Aires and Spanish.

Before tango was born, around the year 1860, people from different countries were living together, such as Europeans, creoles, gauchos, sailors, Indians, blacks, and mulattoes, and they used to share their national dances and music, such as Austrian and alpine waltzes, pasodoble and Andalusian tango, operetta, Scottish dances, “habaneras” (Cuban music), polka, mazurkas, gang and milonga (based on fandango and black candombe). At that time, tango had not been conceived yet.